Bone degradation is a common side effect of various infirmities, injuries and the general aging process. Surgical procedures that seek to alleviate the ailments associated with bone damage are complex and often difficult to perform. A bone graft is a surgical transplant of bone tissue that comes from the patient's body, a donor, or another species to alleviate the ailments of bone degradation. Bone grafts can also be useful for growing new bone tissue around an implanted device, such as a knee replacement.
Materials used in bone grafting are often rough and heterogeneous, making them difficult to prepare, mix and apply. Known methods include preparing and mixing the necessary materials in a mixing bowl and then using a tool, such as a spatula, to transfer the mixed material into a syringe using a funnel. However, it is tedious and time-consuming work to gather the mixed material from the mixing bowl using a spatula, transfer the mixed material to a funnel, and then to transfer the mixed material from the funnel into the syringe using known methods and devices. Moreover, the amount of time required to repeatedly transfer the mixed material, as well as the wasted material resulting from the repeated transfers, increases the cost of a bone grafting procedure.
Therefore, there is a need for improved devices and methods for mixing and transferring a mixed material, such as a bone grafting material.